ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



testimony to the silent progress of the Reformation that whereas the dissolu- 

 tion of the monasteries, which directly touched the laity hardly at all, should 

 have provoked the Pilgrimage of Grace, the suppression of the chantries, 

 which touched the laity closely and deeply, should have taken place without 

 apparent protest from the people. 



Henry's commission for an inquisition into the chantry foundations 

 within the diocese of Chester was dated Westminster, 13 February, 1545-6, 

 and directed to the bishop of Chester, Sir Thomas Holcroft, John Holcroft, 

 Robert Tatton, John Kechyn, and James Rokeby.'"^ 



So far as relates to Lancashire the return is contained in the Duchy 

 Records.'"'' It is not dated, and we know nothing in detail as to the pro- 

 ceedings of the commissioners.'"' Whether or how far Henry took 

 steps to sell the chantry lands in Lancashire we do not know ; the 

 Commission Book does not contain the record of any authority for such 

 sale, nor is there record of any leases of chantry lands in the county earlier 

 than 1548. 



In spite of strong opposition the scheme was again taken up after the 

 accession of Edward VI. The first Parliament of Edward VI passed a 

 similar Act to that above named, but much more explicitly and clearly 

 drafted. This Act '°* granted to the young king all colleges, free chapels, 

 and chantries existing then or five years before, excepting the colleges of 

 Oxford and Cambridge, parochial chapels of ease, &c. Under the powers 

 conferred by this Act Edward in 1 548 issued commissions under the Great 

 Seal. That for the counties of Chester and Lancaster and the city of Chester 

 was directed to Sir Hugh Cholmeley, Sir William Brereton, John Arscott, 

 James Sterkye, George Browne, and St. Thomas Carewes, esqs., and John 

 Kechyn, Thomas Fleetwood, and William Leyton, gents.'"^ 



The returns were probably made before Easter, and certainly before 

 II August, 1548,'°^ for on that day the king signed a commission'"^ 

 dated at Cranborough, giving Sir Walter Mildmay, one of the surveyors- 

 general of the Court of Augmentations, and Robert Keylway, surveyor 

 of the liveries in the Court of Wards, authority to assign pensions to priests 

 and schoolmasters, &c., in the duchy in accordance with the provisions of 

 the Act.'™ 



''" Although the Act makes no mention of plate or ornaments the commission authorized the commis- 

 sioners to make an inventory of them, and the returns accordingly contain such inventories. 



'" Division 25, u. third portion. No. 45. 



"^ It is likely that the inquiry wfas held and finished and the report of the commissioners sent 

 in by way of certificate to the Chancellor of the Duchy, at Westminster, before July, 1 546, for in that 

 month the commissioners for certain other parts of the duchy, viz. for Norfolk, were empowered by a 

 fresh commission of 8 July, 1546, to make sale of certain chapels as in their certificate of survey thereof, 

 which said certificate had been returned on the previous Ascension Day ; Duchy Rec. Bk. of Com. vol. 95, 

 p. 170. 



'»' I Edw. VI, cap. 14. 



'"' Pat. 2 Edw. VI, pt. 7, m. 13. This and all the commissions were dated 14 Feb. 1547-8. 



'°* These returns are preserved among the duchy records; Colleges and Chantries Certificates: (i) 37 

 Hen. VIII ; (3) 2 Edw. VI. The printed text of these returns {Chet. Soe. vols, lix, Ix) does not follow either 

 (l) or (3), but runs the two together. It is printed from an inaccurate transcript. The footnotes also are 

 rendered valueless in numberless cases by the fact that the editor relied on Piccope's confused transcripts of 

 undated Chester visitations. 



™' Duchy Com. Bk. vol. 96, p. 25. 



"" This commission of 1 1 August is itself based upoii a previous one of 20 June, 1548, empowering 

 the same two persons to make grants for grammar schools, pensions to priests, &c. ; Pat. 2 Edw. VI, pt. 4, 

 m. 33</. 



45 



